[NME] Coldplay's Chris Martin: 'Our flashing wristbands cost too much money'

[Jenjie]

Singer says tour gimmick is costing them a fortune

 

Coldplay's Chris Martin has admitted that the band spend a fortune on the flashing wristbands they give out to fans at gigs.

 

The singer told the Sun that they were trying to find a way of still handing out the Xylobands to punters, which flash with different colours during their shows, without "going broke".

 

Speaking about the accessories – which he previously claimed were designed by a sex toy inventor – he said:

Most of the money we're earning on the tour is put into the wristbands. We have to figure out how to keep it going without going broke because it's a crucial part of the concert.

The frontman also revealed that one of their cash-saving schemes – to collect the wristbands at the end of the show – had been nixed by their legal team, adding: "You have to clean everything in case someone picks up herpes or TB. Our lawyers told us we'd get sued, and having been sued a few times we're not keen on that.

 

"It's a little self-indulgent but we love the way it looks when there are 15,000 or 40,000 or however many people with all those lights on them. The technology is still very experimental."

 

Earlier this week (May 21), it was revealed that Coldplay will play a set at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic games on September 9, as part of an event named the 'Festival Of Flame'. They will also tour the UK from May 29 at Coventry's Ricoh Stadium until June 10 at Manchester's City of Manchester Stadium, with three shows at London's Emirates Stadium set for June 1, 2 and 4.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/coldplay/63997

[nanda]

Yeah I read about this. It made me very sad. I hope I still get to see it live.

 

I keep feeling though that this is just Chris making a joke on it again. I mean, I bet it really is expensive, but this Coldplay here, is it really THAT expensive?

[Tash]

Nabil

@Jayreg1969 hey Jason! Is it true that @coldplay might not give out xylobands anymore at gigs cause they're expensive?

 

Jason Regler

@NAsfari @coldplay dont belive what you read in papers :)

[James.]

I know a great way to make more money, Chris... release an EP!

[Tash]

I keep feeling though that this is just Chris making a joke on it again. I mean, I bet it really is expensive, but this Coldplay here, is it really THAT expensive?

 

I think the xylobands costed them £1 million for the December tour (if I remember correctly, don't kill me if I'm wrong).

[Tonsu]

They could always charge ten pounds more per ticket this tour than the last one to more than cover the cost...oh wait!

[busybeeburns]

no more expensive than giving away CDs for nothing.

[LdySpace]

Yeah I read about this. It made me very sad. I hope I still get to see it live.

 

I keep feeling though that this is just Chris making a joke on it again. I mean, I bet it really is expensive, but this Coldplay here, is it really THAT expensive?

 

I'm looking for the interview from which all of this generated in the first place, which I read but can't remember right now where it's from. I'm sure the xylobands are expensive, but Chris was being Chris and being very tongue in cheek. It's like the whole 'we are regretting calling the album Mylo Xyloto' thing where he said it jokingly but people took it and ran with it.

[zzz]

I'm looking for the interview from which all of this generated in the first place, which I read but can't remember right now where it's from. I'm sure the xylobands are expensive, but Chris was being Chris and being very tongue in cheek. It's like the whole 'we are regretting calling the album Mylo Xyloto' thing where he said it jokingly but people took it and ran with it.

 

Do you mean this article?

[Tash]

I'm looking for the interview from which all of this generated in the first place, which I read but can't remember right now where it's from.

 

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93483

[the3jr]

This is really surprising (assuming this isn't bs), with all the success of the tour, and all of the promotion they get, and the prices of the tickets already... It's hard to believe

[Denise]

Maybe everything else is bullshit, but we were indeed asked to hand back the xylobands in Turin (through a message on the screens)..don't think anyone did, also because there were no boxes they could be put back in :shrug:

[Prospector]

I know a great way to make more money, Chris... release an EP!

 

:nod:, and they can't broke, like never! They have too much money to spent, it would take a life time :lol:

[Cyan Kat]

I'm not surprised it's costing them a fortune, but collecting the wristbands is definitely not going to work people will just take them anyway and the idea of getting sexually transmitted diseases is a bit far fetched.

[fakfak]

It's actually not an unheard of concept for a big production bleeding edge tour to lose money on the tech despite phenominal gross receipts(sp?) U2 are notorious for this kind of thing, and it's been reported that without corporate sponsorship, even the 360 tour would have been unfeasibly expensive to produce, even though it set gross and attendence records everywhere.

 

That said, given Chris' penchant for hyperbole, he's probably playing this one up a bit.

[fakfak]

I'm not surprised it's costing them a fortune, but collecting the wristbands is definitely not going to work people will just take them anyway and the idea of getting sexually transmitted diseases is a bit far fetched.

 

 

It's not a question of likelyhood. If anything were to happen, the band would be on the hook for it.

[Fabodabo31]

I would pay for a xyloband...

[InvaderXyl42]

I know a great way to make more money, Chris... release an EP!

 

:nod:

[fakfak]

Maybe everything else is bullshit, but we were indeed asked to hand back the xylobands in Turin (through a message on the screens)..don't think anyone did, also because there were no boxes they could be put back in :shrug:

 

 

Asking people to recycle them is different from asking people to hand them back in to be re-used. It makes sense to encourage people to turn them in to be properly recycled if they don't want to keep them as I'm sure there are a lot of people who do throw them away. That's just my guess on the situation though.

[Yu-tong]

I want to go to see them if I could. :/

[Chloe_Martin]

If they dont have the mylo bands when they are in Sydney I will literally kill someone!!!!

[getithom]

If they dont have the mylo bands when they are in Sydney I will literally kill someone!!!!

 

:sad:

[Coeurli]

If they dont have the mylo bands when they are in Sydney I will literally kill someone!!!!

Well that is a bit of a strong reaction :|

I'm sure you'll get a xyloband at your gig :nice:

[Denise]

Asking people to recycle them is different from asking people to hand them back in to be re-used. It makes sense to encourage people to turn them in to be properly recycled if they don't want to keep them as I'm sure there are a lot of people who do throw them away. That's just my guess on the situation though.

The message was not "if you don't want to keep them hand them back", but "please hand them back"..have no idea if they meant something else, but if indeed they did it wasn't worded right

[the3jr]

It's actually not an unheard of concept for a big production bleeding edge tour to lose money on the tech despite phenominal gross receipts(sp?) U2 are notorious for this kind of thing, and it's been reported that without corporate sponsorship, even the 360 tour would have been unfeasibly expensive to produce, even though it set gross and attendence records everywhere.

 

That said, given Chris' penchant for hyperbole, he's probably playing this one up a bit.

 

If they really have to then, they might have to compromise and get corporate sponsorship. It doesn't look like they'll have trouble getting it.